Do you have any sort of a criminal record or any outstanding civil judgements? Please be specific.

No

BREAKING THE ICE

What is the best piece of political advice you ever received?

Never to lie

What character trait best serves a public official?

An abiding commitment to serving others and “educating the heart” through performing and encouraging public service and volunteering.

What character flaw most harms a public official?

Arrogance

What is your favorite book (besides a spiritual text)?

"Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy

What is your favorite place in Arizona?

The South Mountain Preserve or Cesar Chavez Park. Both have beautiful scenery and provide a wonderful space for families to go and enjoy each others’ company and the company of their neighbors.

Which Arizona political figure past or present do you most admire and why?

Cesar Chavez, without a doubt. Cesar was born here, in Yuma, and died here, near where he was born, in San Luis, Arizona.

ISSUES

What is your vision for Phoenix? What big ideas would you like to see come to fruition in the next decade or two?

My vision for Phoenix has multiple components. I envision a city free of graffiti, blight, and crime; a city where there is economic opportunity and an accessible job market for people across the economic spectrum; a city that works together to form a community of neighborhoods who work together to address all of our most pressing issues.

I think that the City of Phoenix can do a great deal in the immediate future to address these issues by supporting community-driven initiatives like the recently established City of Phoenix Anti-Graffiti Task Force, which I co-chair, and through aggressive education initiatives and additional funding for vital programs like Graffiti Busters and Blight Busters, the latter of which is a program that I started in my first term.

However, in the long-term, I believe that we need to innovate and plan ahead in a smarter fashion than we have in the past – specifically in regard to downtown. As far as “big ideas” go – I envision a downtown that is culturally vibrant, has green space, and most importantly, is easily navigable without getting into a car. We need to connect all of the resources that already exist downtown – the Phoenix Art Museum, Heard Museum, Japanese Friendship Garden, Hance Park, CityScape, the Burton Barr Library, Cancer Survivors park, and others – and connect them to create a truly diverse, walkable, eco-friendly, and active downtown space.

I also believe that the City of Phoenix should (where it can, given budgetary constraints) start land-banking, or buying plots of land near downtown or other areas of the city where growth and an increase in property value is expected to occur. This has paid off for the City before – land that was banked for the Cardinals Stadium, which eventually went to Glendale, was purchased and used for ASU downtown and the U of A campus, which were incredible additions to downtown and better connected Phoenix to the rest of the valley when paired with light rail.

What do you expect Phoenix's biggest challenge to be five years from now?

I think that Phoenix’s biggest challenge five years from now will be the ongoing struggle to diversify our economy out of the black hole of construction and homebuilding. These will obviously always be vital sectors of our economy. However, now, we are still nearly completely dependent on them, even as the housing crisis continues to decimate the revenue-generating capacity of those industries. We will need to work diligently to bring in new kinds of industries to inject new life into our economy – solar companies, data storage facilities, and other businesses separate from the construction and homebuilding sectors. When we do this, we will realize our maximum job-creating potential here in Phoenix, and will truly be on our way to becoming a world-class city that is the envy of all the world.

What is the appropriate role for city government?

I think that city government has several important roles. Helping to define the direction that the city is taking in its infrastructure development, providing vital services like trash collection and maintaining important public spaces like community centers, park, senior centers, and others, recruiting businesses to open operations here, and connecting members of the community with each other and the City of Phoenix itself to generate ideas are all core competencies of city government, and I believe we do the majority of them very well. People also forget that 73% of our budget is made up of dollars allocated to our most important service to residents – public safety services. We need to continue to support our police officers and firefighters, so that our city is safe for families and businesses – if we were to ever let down our guard in regard to public safety issues, we would be letting down everyone in our city, and quality of life would be greatly diminished.

Another very important role of city government is to connect people to one another to help us foster a shared sense of community and buy-in to the idea that we all need to work together as a team if we want to make Phoenix a truly great city – from the neighborhood block party organizer to the most well-paid CEO in the city. When everyone is brought to the table, gets on the same page, and works to achieve a goal that the entire community wants, we all win, and Phoenix will prosper.

The recession forced the city to make deep cuts in its budget. Is Phoenix better or worse as a result?

I believe that we are better off now than we were then in some ways, and in others, we obviously have a lot of recovery yet to do. The Great Recession was an economic wake-up call for the City. It forced us to tighten our belt, to really examine how we should be collecting our revenue, and made the City of Phoenix an overall more efficient operation. Economically, we obviously need to stay focused on recovering, and recovering in a manner that will best serve our city and Phoenix neighborhoods. However, with good policy set by the city in partnership with businesses and community leaders, we will recover, and when we do, we will have a more efficient city government then we had before.

Where should the city's economic development efforts be focused geographically? Should efforts target a specific type of industry?

I believe that the City’s economic development efforts should be focused primarily on downtown and the area surrounding the airport. Due to the sheer amount of open space still present in these areas, there may even be opportunities for land-banking, if funds are available.

As the Republic reported on June 23rd, the Institute of Advanced Health recently had a very large data storage facility built in Phoenix. I think we need to work to bring in additional data storage and similar other facilities. Here in Phoenix, we are fortunate enough not to have natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, or hurricanes, making Phoenix ideal for these types of facilities, which must be located in safe areas where they will not be threatened by these tragic events. Jobs will be created throughout the entire process – from construction jobs for building the facilities, to long-term career positions manning and staffing them.

Rate downtown revitalization. Is it where it should be? If not, what more would you like to see?

I believe that we need to be more aggressive in our downtown revitalization efforts – taking a more comprehensive approach which will address issues as diverse as walkability, land-banking, bring in new businesses which will develop on this land, and other ways to attract cultural and civic events to a newly revitalized downtown. We need to revisit our approach to downtown, now that light rail and the ASU and U of A campuses have been completed, and downtown services have increased. We should take care to be aware of all the city and community resources we have to build a plan that will help enhance every part of downtown life. This way we can create something I like to call “Team Phoenix” – partners from neighborhoods, businesses, the city, and other economic development agencies who will all work together to build a truly unified vision that can be implemented in an integrated fashion to move our agenda forward.

Has the city spent too little, too much or just the right amount in supporting the ASU downtown campus?

I think that the city has spent just the right amount of dollars in supporting the ASU downtown campus. In an economic downturn, we were still able to make smart investments that have paid off with a wonderful facility that is bringing more educational opportunities to Phoenix, along with jobs and out-of-city dollars because of the high light rail ridership that it attracts.

Now we just need to take the success that we experienced supporting ASU downtown and apply it to other scenarios that can be beneficial for Phoenix and all of the city’s residents. An example of a smart policy used during the development of ASU downtown that we could move forward in other areas was the use of land that the City of Phoenix had banked, which was then used to build the new campus.

Which recommendations in the public safety efficiency study, if any, should the city pursue?

I think that the results of the study force us to look at public safety in a new way. The results of the study make it apparent that we have the necessary resources to staff more of our schools with officers, to keep schools safe and to serve as community and youth information and outreach officers. Additionally, we can explore other options to use all of the incredible law enforcement personnel that we have in Phoenix – options such as having more officers be dedicated to smaller areas, becoming acquainted with the areas and neighborhoods that they patrol, and the community leaders and neighbors in that area. For example, we could potentially increase officer participation and involvement with the Phoenix Neighborhood Patrol (PNP) program, enhancing the services offered by the program and connecting neighbors with the officers who patrol their neighborhoods. In sum, I think that we need to delve deeply into the results of the study, examine where our resources should and can be, and move forward appropriately.

What changes, if any, would you like to see made in the city's employee pension system?

The City of Phoenix’s employee benefits and compensation package is currently undergoing review, so I think that before we make any long-term decisions, we need to be fully informed about what changes we can make to best serve Phoenix residents and meet the needs of our city employees. We cannot forget that pensions have value – they ensure stability during retirement, and make the City of Phoenix competitive in the job market. Right now, we are in a downturn, and there are a lot of people looking for jobs in all sectors. However, if you look back in history, during times of economic prosperity people were actually leaving the City of Phoenix for the private sector because we were not competitive enough in providing adequate wages and benefits to highly skilled personnel. We must find a balance between providing competitive wages and benefits and over-compensating our employees. However, we should wait to see what the experts have to say before we make any binding decisions that will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on our city’s fiscal policy.

Rate City Manager David Cavazos' performance.

I think that David Cavazos is doing a good job as our City Manager, and I advocated strongly for his appointment to the position. For those who might not know, and to make an analogy, the City of Phoenix is organized under a Council/Manager system, with the City Manager effectively serving as the CEO of the City, and the council as the Board of Directors. The City Manager collects opinions, advice, and guidance from the councilmembers, and then determines which projects are viable and which are not for each council district and/or citywide project.

What I admire most about David is his willingness to say “no” to requests made by individual councilmembers that the city could not possibly fulfill given our budget constraints. If he thinks a project is not in the city’s interest, he will tell me or one of my colleagues, even if it isn’t what we want to hear. Then, he will work with us to provide opportunities to move forward with alternative solutions. The ability to understand our limits and what our job is as a public body, and to respond within the bounds of those limits, is a great asset indeed. It saves the city time and money, and ensures that we do not over-extend our resources.

Should more city services be privatized? If yes, which ones?

I believe that we need to have a healthy mixture of privatized and publicly provided services in the City of Phoenix – and we do. I think that, during the RFP process for services that go out to bid (trash collection, for example), should be open to city departments as well as private companies – except for those services which simply cannot be profitable, and must be supported and operated with public funds. We have wonderful staff at the City of Phoenix, and the private sector has a huge amount to offer the city in helping us provide the best services possible. By building a fair RFP process that will bring to light what the city can do better than the private sector, and what the private sector can do better than city departments, we will create the most cost-effective and efficient city government possible while still providing the high level of customer service that we must to stay a world-class city, and to become a better one.

Should the city be doing anything differently in addressing traffic congestion?

I have been a vocal advocate for several meaningful efforts to reform our traffic situation here in Phoenix. Chiefly, I have been a consistent voice against reversible “suicide lanes” on 7th Avenue. They are not only dangerous, but unnecessary. We have two north/south freeways, the I-17 and the SR 51 – reversible lanes were conceived before we had this infrastructure, and their usefulness and utility has passed. The reversible lanes also affect cut-through traffic through downtown neighborhoods, which is dangerous, bothersome, and places an unfair traffic burden on those communities. On the cut-through traffic issue, I have also taken the lead, supporting street improvement and traffic amelioration projects in these neighborhoods.

In the southern portion of the city, I have been an active supporter of the Loop 202 extension, as it will bring jobs, shopping, and additional services to the area. Additionally, I have worked with neighborhood leaders to put new intersections and traffic lights along Baseline road, where dangerous situations were created by children and families crossing the street to access city facilities.

Finally, I support the extension of light rail to the western portion of the city, in the Maryvale and Estrella areas, as it will create jobs and increase the economic mobility of area residents, connecting West Phoenix with the rest of Phoenix and the entire Valley.

I believe that the city should prioritize these goals, and similar ones, in order to address our ongoing and various traffic congestion problems. In the process we will create opportunity and jobs, which will make Phoenix a more attractive place for businesses to operate, and for families to live.

Name a decision the current City Council has made in the past two years that you agree with, and explain why.

The implementation of a food tax here in the city of Phoenix was a decision that I most certainly agreed with, and fought for. Implementing the tax took guts – raising taxes is never an easy decision – but, in the end, has ensured that the quality of life and vital services that the City of Phoenix provides its residents could be sustained even in a recession. If the tax had not passed, it would have been a disaster, with community centers, parks, and other city-funded facilities shuttering their doors – possibly forever. The residents of the city spoke up loud and clear during the hearing process, saying that they would rather pay a small tax and keep all of the benefits that went along with that additional revenue, when faced with the alternative of diminished quality of life. It is a decision I continue to admire because it showed that we could all come together to make difficult but pressing decisions.

Name a decision the current City Council has made in the past two years that you disagree with, and explain why.

I fervently disagree with the council’s decision to keep reversible lanes on 7th Street and 7th Avenue. They are dangerous, bad for business, promote cut-through traffic downtown, and are an overall burden on our city. We should do away with them once and for all. It’s a shame that we had the opportunity to, and my colleagues still chose to keep them.

Name an issue you think is important that doesn't get much press.

I think that the value of historic preservation downtown, and the requirements and work that have to be fulfilled to gain that status – no easy feat, just ask any historic neighborhood leader – is an issue that the press does not report on enough, saving for downtown and historic-specific publications. These communities work countless volunteer hours every year to put on events, to advertise the history of their unique neighborhoods, and in the end, ensure that the unique qualities that make downtown Phoenix special are apparent in our architecture and housing infrastructure. Their work is noble, their dedication to their cause is unwavering, and these individuals’ efforts deserve more attention.